July 11th (& 12th), 2016

at the MIT Media Lab, Cambridge MA

What is it?

The OMI Summer Lab will run for three weeks starting on July 11. It begins with an intensive two-day Kickoff which will progress through two one-week sprints. Each sprint will consist of OMI Summer Lab fellows ideating and prototyping unique solutions to industry challenges, ending with a Demo Day at the MIT Media Lab on July 29.

The first one week sprint will explore new, creative workflows to gather this critical data. The second one week sprint will explore emergent fan experiences resulting from data collection.

The Kickoff is broken up into two days, both held at the MIT Media Lab. Full agenda will be posted soon. The objective of the Kickoff is to expose a diversity of voices and stakeholders, frame challenges and opportunities in the music industry, and get inspired by & learn from analogous industries. We’ll approach this content by breaking the day into four themes: 1) Authentication & Fraud, 2) Ownership Changes, 3) Identity and 4) Interoperability.

Day 1: July 11th- Industry Download & Doubletake

Day one is an industry deep-dive into current challenges, opportunities, and emerging technologies related to data capture and tracking. It will feature a series of curated talks, panels, and short presentations from individuals across the music, media, technology, and startup worlds. It will also feature speakers from analogous industries to inspire with fresh takes on parallel challenges. OMI Members and their guests will have an opportunity to meet the Summer Lab fellows, and to connect amongst themselves.

Day 2: July 12th- OMI Fellow Design Thinking Initiation

Day two is an immersion into IDEO's Design Thinking process for the OMI Fellows. The day will consist of talks, exercises and skills transfers. This day will be facilitated by IDEO designers, and is tailored to give the Summer Lab fellows a crash course in the methodology they’ll need to leverage over the next coming weeks. If you’re interested in Design Thinking, or in participating in the lab in a coach capacity, you are welcome to attend as an observer.

Note that Day 2 is to focus on teaching Design Thinking to the fellows. Members are welcome to attend as observers, especially if they are interested in Design Thinking, or participating in the lab in a coach capacity.

Please note that these are recommended hotels, not ones that we have specific arrangements or discounts with.

Occasionally Asked Questions

I'm an Open Music Initiative member, should I attend the Kickoff?

Yes. We strongly encourage all members of OMI to attend Day One of the Summer Labs Kickoff. This is your chance to inform the project and represent your company's experience and point of view with respect to the current challenges and opportunities the music industry faces.

I'm an OMI member and am interested in joining for the Kickoff. What do I do?

Please RSVP on EventBrite. If you haven’t already responded to the OMI survey and would like to be involved in a capacity beyond attending, reach out to Panos Panay directly.

I'm an OMI Member - should I go to Day 2 of the Kickoff: Design Thinking Immersion?

Day 2 is tailored as an onboarding for the fellows, and will not focus directly on the music industry - but all are welcome to attend as observers, particularly if you are interested in coaching during the Summer Lab. Participation as a member will be observing / DIYing the human centered design coaching from IDEO, and ideally (if you are interested) helping out - acting as a research / interview subject with the fellows, and/or giving constructive feedback to design prototypes.

Will there be press?

The event is closed to the press. However, we may extend a special invitation to a single journalist for an exclusive coverage of the lab process. More details as they come.

Who will be there?

All OMI members have been invited to attend the two Kick Off days. Other attendees will be our 18 OMI Summer Lab Interns, IDEO facilitators, Berklee and MIT Media Lab faculty and a few other individual speakers and guests by invitation.

*Note that all OMI members are welcome to invite one colleague as a guest - i.e. up to two people for each member company. All attendees, both members and guests of members, should RSVP via the EventBrite so we can account for everyone in seating and materials!